Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

With the last few weeks of school approaching, I hope to have to change very little. Things are going quite smoothly over the last few weeks in my class and most of the students know exactly what to expect and are doing a pretty good job of meeting those expectations. One of the things we did at the end of last year and that we are planning to do again this year is a trip to the Arizona Science Center. My kids absolutely loved it last year and it gave them something to work toward and to keep them on track. We went the first week in May last year and I hope to do the same this year. This way, I only have to keep them motivated for 2 weeks afterward, during which time we will be doing quarterly testing and helping them finish up their elective classes.

As for the incentive program, we have a school-wide incentive program that has and continues to work very well. I will definitely tap into that whenever possible. And the good thing is that parents are already aware of the incentive program. The other thing that helps with that is that I have 9 IEP's to complete over the next 6 weeks. That will keep me in contact with over half my parents, in and of itself.

Everybody now!

One of the most difficult things I have struggled with in my two years of teaching is how to keep all the students engaged. Due to the cognitive difficulties, my students require almost individual attention in order to get work done and learn. And when there is only one teacher and usually only one IA, that can leave 9 or 10 kids twiddling their thumbs asking how to do this or that when the instruction is truly individualized, such as when we are working on IEP goals. And when there is whole class instruction, quite a few of my students just sit there and do nothing because of their receptive language difficulties and cognitive processing difficulties.

As a result, when I am doing whole class instruction in my math class, I have done two main things to keep student engagement high. First, when I put problems on the board, I tell the students to show me their answers on individual white boards or their calculators instead of just shouting out the answer. This allows everyone to participate at their own pace. Second, I try to ask engaging questions using words like 'everyone' and 'each student' in those questions instead of 'Can someone' or 'does anybody'. This hopefully helps my students realize that I want everyone at least thinking about how to find the answers.

The bottom line is that keeping my students engaged is a constant struggle for a few reasons - learned helplessness, genuine lack of understanding, and low self-esteem just to name a few. I hope that the biggest thing I do to keep my students engaged is to let them know that giving up and giving in are never options. I try to express belief in them at all times and let them know I love them and want them to be successful!

These good folks are awful handy!

I have developed a really good relationship with quite a few school counselors in my two years at Westwood High School. They are extremely good at what they do and very personable as well. Additionally, they have helped me numerous times with my students' crazy, jacked up schedules. Due to the alternate classes that my students participate in, the registrar has struggled to get things done correctly and timely. When this has happened, I have gone in to the counselors and they have been absolutely awesome! Every time, without fail, they helped me fix the problems and get the schedules correct.

Now, if all they did was schedules, AIMS testing, and help kids with post-high school plans, they would keep themselves tremendously busy. But, on top of all that, they also handle emergencies when students struggle with emotional or behavioral issues. I had a student who was expressing suicidal thoughts and stated that they had a plan for committing suicide. I followed our school's policy and sent them to the counselor on-call. The counselor was able to deescalate the child, help them express their feelings, contact their parents, and get them in touch with their therapist. There was excellent coordination of care and the student was able to get the help they needed.

The not so Common Core!

Just as common sense is not so common these days, the Common Core standards are not so common in my classroom. The biggest issue I have is that I still do not know how these new standards apply to my students. These new standards, as it relates to math, call for mathematical knowledge and performance standards that almost all of my students will never attain to in their lifetime. They are unable to because of their cognitive deficits and processing difficulties. And, thus far, there are no alternate standards to accompany the Common Core standards. This is my biggest concern and worry as it relates to implementation of the Common Core Standards.

Now, there is another side to the Common Core. I am really excited about the new standards and believe that, if implemented across the board by teachers, will improve learning and allow for students to grow and learn in unprecedented ways. These standards consistently push students to delve deeper, construct their own models for learning, and ultimately to learn how to learn.

Poverty Sucks!

I am impacted everyday by poverty and it is absolutely devastating! Over 75% of the student body at Westwood High School receive free or reduced lunch. It is an extremely poor and transient neighborhood. The implications of poverty are very clear. Westwood High School is an under-achieving school when it comes to test scores, overall school grades, attitude, and self-concept. Most of this is clear only in comparison to other schools. But due to the diverse population of Westwood and the fact that there is an International Baccalaureate program on campus, the most drastic difference is the parental involvement. The high income, high achieving IB student families are super involved and interested in their child's education. The lower income, lower achieving student families are much less involved and seemingly not at all bought in to the value and importance of an education. One of the biggest tragedies I see is that many of the students have very little desire to pursue higher education. This impacts the students in that there is very little motivation to do their best in school, because as long as they get their diploma, nothing else matters to them.

I love it when I get to crush people's souls!

That is what my students act like when they are corrected. I really want to change that perception of feedback and help them understand that receiving feedback is a part of the process of getting better and improving. That is why I love the SIP model and why I always try to keep it in mind whenever I am teaching. I try to be specific, immediate, and positive in my feedback whenever possible. This is important with the academics, but it is even more important with behavioral concerns. One of the biggest pitfalls that authority figures run into is that of broad labels for students with behavioral issues. Many teachers will call them things like 'liars' or 'brats' or 'punks'. This creates severe animosity between teachers and students. However, when a teacher is able to be more specific with their feedback, they have a better chance of helping the student improve and salvaging the relationship at the same time.

Now, this is interesting!

I have a quite a few encounters with unprofessional behavior in the education world. One of the most interesting  experiences revolved around the most recent political season when one of the teachers here on campus was telling students that a certain candidate was a racist. In the middle of this, one of the Teacher Aides actually stated that they liked that particular candidate and that the political discussion should be a little more balanced when discussing candidates. The teacher then called the TA a racist.

When I heard this story, I was flabbergasted! I could not believe that a teacher would cross that ethical boundary of influencing the students in that way, and then compound the first mistake by making another one and alienating the TA and calling them names. This experience highlights two of the biggest pitfalls that lead to unethical behavior. First, a teacher must learn to control their emotions. When our emotions get the best of us, we make big mistakes. Second, teachers must know the ethical expectations and have very clear boundaries with students and staff alike.